Mark Hayward
@mdhayward.bsky.social
Population health scientist and demographer. Science thrives on honesty, honor,and commitment to others. Cat dad to two girls who are vying for the record of the longest lived cats.
Pinned
Mark Hayward
@mdhayward.bsky.social
· Nov 20
Spaces like NASEM and #IAPHS. I have written external promotion and tenure letters for epidemiology , geoscience, health policy, and neuroscience more often in the past 3 years than my home discipline of sociology. My takeaway is that our identities are increasingly fluid as we advance in our
My research team has published research showing that malnutrition and hunger in childhood are long-term risk factors for dementia decades later in life. Makes me think about the long-term health consequences of withholding SNAP benefits from families.
November 4, 2025 at 3:44 AM
My research team has published research showing that malnutrition and hunger in childhood are long-term risk factors for dementia decades later in life. Makes me think about the long-term health consequences of withholding SNAP benefits from families.
I asked one set of kids who came to our door on Halloween if theyd already been at my house. They said yes they had…but their mom said it was OK to swing by a second time. Hmmm…some parents need parenting lessons.
November 4, 2025 at 3:38 AM
I asked one set of kids who came to our door on Halloween if theyd already been at my house. They said yes they had…but their mom said it was OK to swing by a second time. Hmmm…some parents need parenting lessons.
I never realized that Trump owned cattle ranches and soy bean farms in Argentina. Who would have guessed?
October 22, 2025 at 6:20 PM
I never realized that Trump owned cattle ranches and soy bean farms in Argentina. Who would have guessed?
I gave a keynote at a conference & have been relaxing at the hotel bar. I struck up a conversation with a guy next to me. He asked what I do for a living and I hesitated. I’m a biodemographer and social epidemiologist. This led to an amazing conversation about our nation’s health.
October 17, 2025 at 10:50 PM
I gave a keynote at a conference & have been relaxing at the hotel bar. I struck up a conversation with a guy next to me. He asked what I do for a living and I hesitated. I’m a biodemographer and social epidemiologist. This led to an amazing conversation about our nation’s health.
My lab group met today. Grad students and postdocs engaged in cutting edge research on health and aging topics. Every meeting it seems that they have a new article accepted or fascinating results. They’re provocative and fun! The next generation in this area of science. I love it!
October 10, 2025 at 2:09 AM
My lab group met today. Grad students and postdocs engaged in cutting edge research on health and aging topics. Every meeting it seems that they have a new article accepted or fascinating results. They’re provocative and fun! The next generation in this area of science. I love it!
I continue to be stunned at how poor health literacy is in the US. You’d think folks would have learned something during the worst of the pandemic. It almost seems the opposite. Perhaps the COVID “worm” ate people’s brains.
October 9, 2025 at 6:19 PM
I continue to be stunned at how poor health literacy is in the US. You’d think folks would have learned something during the worst of the pandemic. It almost seems the opposite. Perhaps the COVID “worm” ate people’s brains.
Today in my mortality grad seminar, we focused on what transpired in the US & comparisons with high income countries.The students were shocked by how devastating COVID was to US life expectancy compare to Europe. Then we discussed the Great Barringron Declaration. They were stunned.
October 8, 2025 at 2:49 AM
Today in my mortality grad seminar, we focused on what transpired in the US & comparisons with high income countries.The students were shocked by how devastating COVID was to US life expectancy compare to Europe. Then we discussed the Great Barringron Declaration. They were stunned.
New evidence showing that educational attainment has a dose-response association with dementia risk throughout the entire distribution of education. 🧪
read.dukeupress.edu/demography/a...
read.dukeupress.edu/demography/a...
How Does the Risk of Dementia Change With Each Additional Year of Education? | Demography | Duke University Press
read.dukeupress.edu
September 23, 2025 at 4:22 PM
New evidence showing that educational attainment has a dose-response association with dementia risk throughout the entire distribution of education. 🧪
read.dukeupress.edu/demography/a...
read.dukeupress.edu/demography/a...
If you think the far rights’ proposals to raise US birth rates will work, think again. www.newsweek.com/low-birth-ra...
Low Birth Rates Are Here To Stay | Opinion
Individuals and families need to be supported by a strong social safety net that includes paid leave and a robust child care infrastructure. There are no quick fixes.
www.newsweek.com
September 17, 2025 at 12:49 PM
If you think the far rights’ proposals to raise US birth rates will work, think again. www.newsweek.com/low-birth-ra...
I was thinking about 9/11 today as I was traipsing around airports. I was surprised by the lack of government attention and the media. 9/11 was a turning point in our history and had wide consequences, e.g., the War on Terror, the establishment of Homeland Security and wars in the Middle East. 1/2
September 12, 2025 at 3:08 AM
I was thinking about 9/11 today as I was traipsing around airports. I was surprised by the lack of government attention and the media. 9/11 was a turning point in our history and had wide consequences, e.g., the War on Terror, the establishment of Homeland Security and wars in the Middle East. 1/2
#IAPHS I’m at a population health science conference in Pittsburgh. Researchers from many disciplines have gathered to talk about ways of improving health, bringing in “cells to society” perspectives. So wonderful at a time when HHS has declared war on the health sciences. Science will triumph.
September 9, 2025 at 9:14 PM
#IAPHS I’m at a population health science conference in Pittsburgh. Researchers from many disciplines have gathered to talk about ways of improving health, bringing in “cells to society” perspectives. So wonderful at a time when HHS has declared war on the health sciences. Science will triumph.
I’m traveling for biz. Staying at the Westin in Pittsburgh. I’m in the bar and just watched the bartender help out a street person fill their thermos with ice water. I love this place even more. Kindness. It still exists.
September 7, 2025 at 10:22 PM
I’m traveling for biz. Staying at the Westin in Pittsburgh. I’m in the bar and just watched the bartender help out a street person fill their thermos with ice water. I love this place even more. Kindness. It still exists.
My head spins when I see vaccine resistance—especially for children. Children’s lives in today’s world are at serious risk because of vaccine resistance. How do I know?Because of a real life counterfactual. Yeah, science
September 5, 2025 at 11:16 PM
My head spins when I see vaccine resistance—especially for children. Children’s lives in today’s world are at serious risk because of vaccine resistance. How do I know?Because of a real life counterfactual. Yeah, science
open.substack.com/pub/insideme...
Some days I wonder whether Kennedy will start staffing CDC with witch doctors. Clearly, the germ theory of disease has been demoted within CDC.
Some days I wonder whether Kennedy will start staffing CDC with witch doctors. Clearly, the germ theory of disease has been demoted within CDC.
Breaking: RFK Jr. seeks to rush 7 new members to CDC vaccine panel.
We have breaking news that I believe we are first to report here in Inside Medicine.
open.substack.com
September 3, 2025 at 8:51 PM
open.substack.com/pub/insideme...
Some days I wonder whether Kennedy will start staffing CDC with witch doctors. Clearly, the germ theory of disease has been demoted within CDC.
Some days I wonder whether Kennedy will start staffing CDC with witch doctors. Clearly, the germ theory of disease has been demoted within CDC.
When the USSR was collapsing, they stopped publishing life tables because life expectancy was rapidly declining between 1974 and 1986. That’s one of the indicators the CIA used to gauge the level of internal rot in the USSR. Makes me wonder whether the US will continue publishing its life tables.
September 1, 2025 at 4:05 PM
When the USSR was collapsing, they stopped publishing life tables because life expectancy was rapidly declining between 1974 and 1986. That’s one of the indicators the CIA used to gauge the level of internal rot in the USSR. Makes me wonder whether the US will continue publishing its life tables.
I’d really prefer not to go to Mexico or Canada for my Covid booster. Just saying.
August 29, 2025 at 1:32 AM
I’d really prefer not to go to Mexico or Canada for my Covid booster. Just saying.
Years ago UT students protested the Texas Lege allowing guns on campus. The students started a passive protest, “Cocks for Glocks.” They attached dildoes to their backpacks, bicycles, whatever. The campus was flooded with sex toys to affirm how stupid our Lege was. 1/
August 28, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Years ago UT students protested the Texas Lege allowing guns on campus. The students started a passive protest, “Cocks for Glocks.” They attached dildoes to their backpacks, bicycles, whatever. The campus was flooded with sex toys to affirm how stupid our Lege was. 1/
Summer in Austin is now 24 days longer than it was 30 years ago. A longer summer is the case just about everywhere in the US. Maybe that’s why the feds are closing down climate research and disappearing the data.
August 24, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Summer in Austin is now 24 days longer than it was 30 years ago. A longer summer is the case just about everywhere in the US. Maybe that’s why the feds are closing down climate research and disappearing the data.
Here’s an example — among so many — of how the GOP kills great institutions — but is incapable of building them.
www.texastribune.org/2025/08/21/u...
www.texastribune.org/2025/08/21/u...
UT System nixes faculty senates, approves restrictions on campus protests
The changes are in response to new state laws seeking to limit faculty’s influence and put guardrails on campus demonstrations.
www.texastribune.org
August 22, 2025 at 10:34 PM
Here’s an example — among so many — of how the GOP kills great institutions — but is incapable of building them.
www.texastribune.org/2025/08/21/u...
www.texastribune.org/2025/08/21/u...
Nothing says grandparent love like waygu hot dogs, fancy ice cream sandwiches and pool time. Unless we had a pony. 🤣
August 16, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Nothing says grandparent love like waygu hot dogs, fancy ice cream sandwiches and pool time. Unless we had a pony. 🤣
My neighborhood has a group chat in WhatsApp. Today they are chatting away about housekeeping services, contact information for their housekeepers, cost, etc, blissfully unaware that they could be placing people at risk of "La Migra." Stupid, rich White people.
August 13, 2025 at 8:07 PM
My neighborhood has a group chat in WhatsApp. Today they are chatting away about housekeeping services, contact information for their housekeepers, cost, etc, blissfully unaware that they could be placing people at risk of "La Migra." Stupid, rich White people.
Another bad day for science. Kennedy cancelled nearly $600 million dollars in mRNA vaccine contracts, the best defense for fast-spreading diseases like COVID. He’s advocating using the traditional vaccine technology which is 100 years old. The threat to American lives is enormous.
August 6, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Another bad day for science. Kennedy cancelled nearly $600 million dollars in mRNA vaccine contracts, the best defense for fast-spreading diseases like COVID. He’s advocating using the traditional vaccine technology which is 100 years old. The threat to American lives is enormous.
We have just published our outreach video about our dementia studies on the leading video science communication channel, SciTube.
nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...
nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...
Professor Mark D. Hayward | How Education Shapes Dementia Risk - SciTube
Dementia – a syndrome characterized by declining cognitive function that interferes with daily living – represents one of the most significant health challenges facing aging populations worldwide. Whi...
nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
August 5, 2025 at 1:38 PM
We have just published our outreach video about our dementia studies on the leading video science communication channel, SciTube.
nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...
nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...
Existentialism is illustrated with the myth of Sisyphus. Pushing a rock up a hill only to have it roll down-and the process begins anew.The modern version can be summarized using cats and cat barf. The cat barfs.Then we clean it up, and then the cat barfs again the next day. Modern existentialism.
August 4, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Existentialism is illustrated with the myth of Sisyphus. Pushing a rock up a hill only to have it roll down-and the process begins anew.The modern version can be summarized using cats and cat barf. The cat barfs.Then we clean it up, and then the cat barfs again the next day. Modern existentialism.